Departmental Absenteeism

David Davies: To ask the Minister for the Olympics how many staff of her Office were recorded absent due to non-medical reasons on  (a) 2 February 2009 and  (b) 3 February 2009; what estimate she has made of the (i) cost to her Office and (ii) number of working hours lost due to such absence; and what guidance her Office issued to staff in respect of absence on those days.

Tessa Jowell: Guidance was issued to staff that they should follow Cabinet Office policy on dealing with transport domestic emergencies.
	Short periods of special leave with pay are authorised and recorded by managers and not held centrally. To obtain this information in relation to 2 and 3 February 2009 would represent a disproportionate cost.

Olympic Games 2012: Facilities

Humfrey Malins: To ask the Minister for the Olympics pursuant to the answer of 8 December 2008,  Official Report, column 3W, on Olympic Games 2012: facilities, if she will place in the Library a copy of the full final KPMG report on Olympic venues.

Tessa Jowell: holding answer 26 March 2009
	The Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) published a redacted version of the KPMG findings on 19 December 2008. A copy of the KPMG findings, which looked at whether cost savings could be made on the 2012 temporary venues, is available in the House Library. For continuing reasons of commercial sensitivity and so as to not prejudice the ODA's and the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games discussions and negotiations on contracts they have not yet awarded for the temporary venues, I am unable to place a non-redacted version of the KPMG findings in the Library.

Olympic Games 2012: Facilities

Humfrey Malins: To ask the Minister for the Olympics pursuant to the answer of 8 December 2008,  Official Report, column 3W, on Olympic Games 2012: facilities, what the  (a) initial estimated and  (b) outturn cost to the public purse was of the KPMG report on Olympic venues.

Tessa Jowell: holding answer 26 March 2009
	The Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) commissioned KPMG from its Financial Services Panel via a call off contract, on an agreed hourly rate, at an estimated cost of £105,000 plus VAT. Additional scope was added to the original remit, to include more venues and more detailed consultation, and therefore the final cost of the KPMG work to the ODA is £175,000 plus VAT.

Performing Arts

John Mason: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland pursuant to the answer of 19 March 2009,  Official Report, column 1288W, what the cost was to his Department of engaging musicians on each of those two occasions.

Ann McKechin: The Scotland Office engaged a quartet in January 2007, at a cost of £600 and a musician to play the Clàrsach in September 2007, at a cost of £80.

Afghanistan: Peacekeeping Operations

Adam Holloway: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence with reference to the answer of 3 November 2008,  Official Report, column 1518W, how many rounds of  (a) 0.338 ammunition of all natures,  (b) 12 bore shotgun ammunition,  (c) 30 mm armoured fighting vehicle ammunition of all natures,  (d) 30 mm attack helicopter ammunition of all natures and  (e) 105 mm ammunition of all natures were used in Operation Herrick 7.

John Hutton: Officials are collating and validating the data needed and this is taking longer than anticipated. I will write to the hon. Member when this work is complete and place a copy of my letter in the Library of the House.

Departmental Scientists

Ian Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what his Department's budget for scientific advice and research is in 2008-09; for what purposes the equivalent budget for 2007-08 was used; and how many people employed in his Department have a science or engineering degree.

Quentin Davies: The Ministry of Defence (MOD) publishes information on its overall expenditure on research in UK Defence Statistics, a copy of which is in the Library of the House and is available online at:
	http://www.dasa.mod.uk/applications/newWeb/www/index.php?page=67&pubType=1&thiscontent=0&date=2008-09-24
	The majority of the research expenditure is undertaken by the science/innovation/technology Top Level Budget. The budget for this organisation, including operating costs, was laid out in the Winter Supplementary Estimates 2008-09 as £502 million.
	The wide ranging research activities undertaken by MOD in 2007-08 are described in the MOD Annual Report and Accounts 2007-2008 Volume 1: Annual Performance Report (paragraphs 171 to 183). A copy of this document is also in the Library of the House and is available online at:
	http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/AboutDefence/CorporatePublications/AnnualReports/MODAnnualReports0708/
	In a recent survey of graduate qualifications in MOD and Dstl, the MOD's Trading Fund Agency undertaking research activities, over 3,350 members of staff declared their first degree to be in either science or engineering. However, this information has been provided voluntarily and is therefore likely to be incomplete.

Departmental Data Protection

Patrick Mercer: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer with reference to the Interim Report on Data Handling Procedures in Government, 17 December 2007, if he will issue guidance on the use of removable electronic media by staff in his Department.

Angela Eagle: HM Treasury continually reassesses its security standards, procedures and risks to ensure that it is providing high levels of security for its data and other assets. Changes have been implemented in response to the Interim Report on Data handling Procedures, and the intention is to further strengthen existing procedures during 2009.

Members: Correspondence

Simon Burns: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when his Department plans to reply to the letter of 30 January 2009 from the hon. Member for West Chelmsford Ref: 4/32912/2009, on his constituent, Mr. Simon Payne of Chelmsford.

Angela Eagle: I replied to the hon. Member on 23 February.

Tax Credit Office: Correspondence

Anthony Steen: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will instruct the Chief Executive of the Tax Credit Office to reply to the hon. Member for Totnes' letters of 5 February and 3 March 2009, on the issues surrounding Mrs. Yvonne Allen of Salcombe's working tax credits following the loss of her records by HM Revenue and Customs.

Stephen Timms: HM Revenue and Customs have advised me that they will reply to the hon. Member shortly and apologise for the delay in doing so.

Rape: Victim Support Schemes

Theresa May: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality pursuant to the answer of 10 March 2009,  Official Report, column 156, on rape crisis centres, on what date her officials initiated discussions with Rape Crisis England and Wales and the Survivors Trust on rape crisis centre funding for the forthcoming financial year; which Ministers she has met to discuss funding for rape crisis centres since 1 January 2009; and how many such meetings have been held.

Maria Eagle: Government officials have been working on an ongoing basis with Rape Crisis (England and Wales) and The Survivors' Trust on sustainability and funding to the sexual violence voluntary sector. Meetings have been held at official and ministerial level. I would like to thank both Rape Crisis (England and Wales) and the Survivors' Trust for their constructive and ongoing dialogue and support in this regard.
	I have regular discussions with ministerial colleagues on this matter through the Inter Ministerial Group on Sexual Violence and Domestic Violence.

Legislation

John Baron: To ask the Leader of the House with reference to the ministerial correction of 10 November 2008,  Official Report, columns 3-4MC, on the Parliamentary session, how many hours the House spent considering  (a) primary and  (b) delegated legislation on the floor of the House in the 2007-08 Session.

Chris Bryant: The information requested is published in the Sessional Returns for Session 2007-08 (HC 1 of Session 2008-09), pages 34-36 and can be found online at:
	http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200809/csession/1/001.pdf

Departmental Standards

Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what estimate he has made of the cost to his Department of measuring compliance with its targets under its public service agreements in the last 12 months for which figures are available.

Paul Goggins: The cost of measuring compliance with targets under the Northern Ireland Office's public service agreements is not held centrally within my Department. The cost of generating this data or breaking down existing data in this way would incur disproportionate costs.

Further Education: Capital Investment

Rob Marris: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills pursuant to the written ministerial statement of 4 March 2009,  Official Report, column 55WS, on capital investment (further education colleges), which colleges have been granted approval in principle; which colleges have pending bids to the national Learning and Skills Council for approval in principle; and which colleges have been given funding by the Learning and Skills Council to carry out feasibility studies into proposed capital building projects.

Si�n Simon: Capital funding for Further Education colleges is administrated by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC). As the information requested pertains to decisions and records held by the Council, I have asked Geoff Russell, the LSC Acting Chief Executive, to write to my hon. Friend with the further information requested. A copy of his letter will be placed in the House Libraries.

Further Education: Capital Investment

Stephen Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for South Holland and the Deepings of 16 March 2009,  Official Report, column 904W, on further education: finance, when he plans to place in the Library the copy of the letter.

Si�n Simon: I understand that Mark Haysom, the then chief executive of the Learning and Skills Council, wrote to the hon. Member for South Holland and The Deepings (Mr. Hayes) on 23 March. A copy of that letter should be available in the House Libraries shortly.

Further Education: Capital Investment

Stephen Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills pursuant to the written ministerial statement of 4 March 2009,  Official Report, columns 55-6WS, on capital investment (further education colleges), what steps the Learning and Skills Council has taken to keep interested hon. Members informed on the progress and status of schemes in their area.

Si�n Simon: Capital funding for Further Education colleges is administrated by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC). As the information requested pertains to communications activity undertaken by the Council, I have asked Geoffrey Russell, the acting LSC chief executive, to write to the hon. Member with the further information requested. A copy of his letter will be placed in the House Libraries.

Further Education: Governing Bodies

Rob Marris: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how many times the Learning and Skills Council has used its powers under section 11 of the Learning and Skills Act 2000 since 1 January 2001; and if he will make a statement.

Si�n Simon: The power set out at Section 11 of the Learning and Skills Act 2000, enables the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) to appoint up to two persons to the governing body of a further education (FE) college. This power is a general power which enables the LSC to appoint additional governors to a college corporation to provide additional skills, knowledge or expertise as appropriate.
	The power may also be used as part of an intervention response. However, the power is independent of the LSC's powers of intervention and evidence of failure is not a pre-condition for the power to be used.
	The LSC has confirmed that, since its creation on 1 April 2001, it has used the power on 33 occasions, appointing a total of 51 governors.

Goldman Sachs

Mark Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport pursuant to the answer of 17 March 2009,  Official Report, column 974W, on departmental bank services, what the monetary value is of the contract between his Department and Goldman Sachs.

Gerry Sutcliffe: In relation to this contract between the Department and Goldman Sachs the monetary value was 43,573.

Regional Ministers: Travel

Andrew MacKinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport whether the Permanent Secretary of his Department has authorised expenditure on travel costs for the parliamentary assistant to the Minister for the East of England in accordance with the circumstances envisaged in the Cabinet Secretary's letter to Permanent Secretaries of 2 December 2008.

Gerry Sutcliffe: No claims have been made.

St. George's Day

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport pursuant to the answer given on 22 January 2009,  Official Report, columns 1584-5W, on St. George's Day 
	(1)  what recent representations he has received on the promotion of St. George's Day; and which  (a) groups and  (b) individuals submitted such representations;
	(2)  how many items of correspondence his Department has received regarding St. George's Day since 13 January 2009.

Barbara Follett: As at 24 March the Department had received four items of correspondence with St. George's Day as its main subject since 13 January.
	All four letters were from Members of Parliament. The Department holds no records of further representations on this subject during this time period.
	As I stated in my response of 22 January to the hon. Member, it is possible that further correspondence could mention St. George's Day as a secondary issue, but this correspondence could be identified only at disproportionate cost.

Children: Abuse

Nigel Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prosecutions for child abuse there were in  (a) Eastbourne and  (b) East Sussex in each year for the last 10 years.

Maria Eagle: The number of persons aged 18 and over proceeded against at magistrates courts for offences relating to child abuse from 1998 to 2007 (latest available) in the Sussex police force area can be viewed in the following table. Information held centrally cannot be broken down sufficiently to supply data for Eastbourne or East Sussex, thus Sussex police force area data have been provided in lieu. Court proceedings data for 2008 will be available in the autumn of 2009.
	As there is no specific offence of child abuse, statistics are only provided where the age of the victim can be identified as a child from the description of the offence. Furthermore the term child abuse describes harm caused to a child arising from emotional, physical, sexual abuse or neglect caused by a parent or carer. A number of other offences such as offences against the person including assault may frequently be used by the police to charge offenders.
	These data are on the principal offence basis. The figures given in the table on court proceedings relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offence for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences, the offence selected is the one for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe.
	
		
			  Number of defendants aged 18 and over proceeded against at all courts for offences relating to child abuse in Sussex police force area 1998 to 2007( 1,2) 
			Proceeded against 
			  Statute  Offence description  1998  1999  2000  2001  2002  2003  2004  2005  2006  2007 
			 Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004 S.5(3) Causing or allowing the death of a child or vulnerable person n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a
			 
			 Children and Young Persons Act 1933 Sec. 1 Cruelty to or neglect of children 14 15 15 12 11 10 7 14 3 13 
			 
			 Offences against the Person Act 1861 Sec. 27 Abandoning children under two years1  3 
			 
			 Sexual Offences Act 2003 S. 5(4) Rape of a female child under 13 by a male n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a  3 3  
			 
			 Sexual Offences Act 2003 S.5(4) Rape of a male child under 13 by a male n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a  1  1 
			 
			 Sexual Offences Act 2003 S.7(4) Sexual assault on a female child under 13 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 1 5 9 7 
			 
			 Sexual Offences Act 2003S.8(1)(2)(3), S.9(1)(a)(b)(c)(ii),(2),(3), S.10(1)(a)(b)(c)(i)(ii),(2),(3)(4) Sexual activity involving a child n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 1 7 7 7 
			 
			 Sexual Offences Act 2003S.16(1)(e)(i)(ii),(2)-(5), S.17(1)(e)(i)(ii),(2)-(5), S.18(1)(f)(ii),(2)-(5)(4) Abuse of a position of trust: Sexual activity with children n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a  2   
			 
			 Sexual Offences Act 2003 S.1(5) Rape of a female aged under 16 9 6 1 15 19 8 7 14 14 11 
			 
			 Sexual Offences Act 2003 S.1(5) Rape of a male aged under 16 1 3 1  1 5 2 3 1  
			 n/a = Not applicable (1) These data are on the principal offence basis. (2) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts, and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. (3) Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004 S.5 came into force on 21 March 2005. (4) The Sexual Offences Act 2003 came into force on 1 May 2004. (5) Prior to 2004 the offences Rape of a female aged under 16 and Rape of a male aged under 16 came under the Sexual Offences Act 1956 Section 1 as amended by the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 section 142.  Source: OCJRE  A: Office for Criminal Justice ReformEvidence  Analysis Unit

Departmental Freedom of Information

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  how many requests for Central Clearing House advice on freedom of information requests have been received in each quarter since January 2005; what information his Department holds on such requests; what procedures are in place to request central clearance; whether any changes have been made to such procedures since the Freedom of Information Act 2000 came into force; and who within his Department is responsible for providing Central Clearing House advice;
	(2)  how many responses to requests to his Department for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 have been delayed because of consideration of the public interest test in each year since the Act's entry into force; and how many such requests have subsequently been refused on the basis of a ministerial certification under section 36 of the Act;
	(3)  how many meetings have taken place between the Information Commissioner's Office and his Department since 1 January 2008; and what records his Department holds of the matters discussed at each meeting;
	(4)  how many requests for decision notices under section 50 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 the Information Commissioner's Office has received in each year since the entry into force of the Act; how many have been determined; how many have been  (a) withdrawn and  (b) not progressed to a formal decision notice; and how many remain outstanding;
	(5)  how many requests to the Information Commissioner's Office for decision notices under section 50 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 have been made in respect of  (a) his Department and  (b) its predecessor; how many have resulted in the issue of decision notices; and how many requests remain outstanding;
	(6)  how many staff at each grade in his Department work in its Information Directorate; how many such staff work in its Data Access and Compliance Unit; what changes in the personnel of  (a) that unit and  (b) any other unit undertaking such work there have been since January 2007; and what the reason for each change was;
	(7)  what information his Department holds on the intervention by the Information Commissioner in March 2008 in respect of handling of freedom of information requests by his Department; and what steps have been taken as a consequence;
	(8)  whether any officials from Government departments have been seconded to the Information Commissioner's Office to assist with casework.

Michael Wills: I will write to the hon. Member when I am in a position to do so and place a copy of my letter in the Library of the House.

Departmental Surveys

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  how many staff of his Department's Democracy, Constitution and Law directorate responded to the questions in its recent staff survey on  (a) the chance of getting their views heard,  (b) putting their priorities on the agenda,  (c) identifying things most important to them and  (d) identifying thoughts on how the directorate could be a great place to work;
	(2)  how many staff in his Department's Democracy, Constitution and Law directorate have legal qualifications; and how many are qualified  (a) solicitors and  (b) barristers in England and Wales;
	(3)  how many staff of his Department's Democracy, Constitution and Law Directorate there are at each  (a) Senior Civil Service and  (b) other Civil Service pay band;
	(4)  how many personnel work in the Democracy, Constitution and Law Directorate of his Department; how many have  (a) joined and  (b) left the Directorate since its creation; and how many are expected to leave in the next 12 months;
	(5)  what the pay band was of each member of his Department's Democracy, Constitution and Law Directorate who attended its awayday on 29 September 2008; which senior managers in the Directorate attended; where the awayday took place; what the cost to his Department of the awayday was; and what priorities for the Directorate have been set  (a) consequent upon and  (b) subsequent to the event;
	(6)  how many celebratory lunches the Permanent Secretary has hosted for staff of his Department since its establishment; on which date each such event was held; where each such event was held; who attended each such event; what the cost was of  (a) hosting and  (b) staff attendance at each such event; and whether staff attendance at each such event was regarded as part of the normal duties of such staff;
	(7)  how performance against the critical success factor in paragraph 3.1 of his Department's current business model is monitored; and what steps are taken against his Department's staff in circumstances where the standards required under this factor are not met.

Michael Wills: I will write to the hon. Member when I am in a position to do so and place a copy of my letter in the Library of the House.

Performing Arts

John Mason: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer of 18 March 2009,  Official Report, columns 1217-18W, on performing arts, what the cost was to his Department of engaging  (a) actors for each of the listed initiatives and  (b) musicians for the 18-24 Electoral campaign in 2005-06.

Shahid Malik: The Ministry of Justice spent the following on engaging  (a) actors for each of the listed initiatives and  (b) musicians for the 18-24 Electoral campaign.
	
		
			
			 Victims and Witnesses DVD Going to Court 6,250.00 
			 Domestic Violence DVD You Don't Have to Live in Fear n/a 
			 Community Sentencing CD-ROM Judge for Yourself n/a 
			 Diversity and fairness in the jury system 3,900.00 
			   
			 Musicians for the 18-24 Electoral campaign 0 
			 n/a = Not available. Figures that are not available cannot be broken down from overall project costs and to do so would be disproportionate to cost.

Young Offender Institutions: Education

Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many hours per day prisoners in young offenders' institutions spent on  (a) education and  (b) other forms of work on average in the latest period for which figures are available.

David Hanson: The following table shows the average(1) daily hours per prisoner for the period April 2008 to the end of February 2009 (11 months), the latest available data(2), for each young offender and juvenile establishment.
	We have improved the quality of offender learning, as assessed by Ofsted over the last five years.
	There has been a three-fold increase in the offender learning budget since 2001, rising to over 175 million in 2008-09, and we are increasing by a third, the number of prisoners taking part in education and training since 2006 when our new delivery arrangements were put in place.
	Employment is known to be a key factor in helping to reduce reoffending. The Government's aim therefore are to improve the quantity and quality of offender learning to provide more offenders with the skills and motivation to turn away from crime, improve their employability and become productive members of society.
	(1) Purposeful activity is not routinely reported as a daily average. For this answer, the weekly hours have been divided by five to obtain a weekday average as the majority of activity will take place on weekdays.
	(2) All data is provisional and subject to end year validation.
	
		
			  Weekday hours 
			  Establishment  Classroom education  Other education-related activity  Physical education  Work-related activity  Resettlement-related activity  Faith-based activity  Association( 1)  Court activity 
			 Ashfield 3.18 0.22 1.34 0.15 1.09 0.11 4.39 0.15 
			 Aylesbury 1.14 0.07 0.63 2.12 0.70 0.19 1.35 0.00 
			 Brinsford 1.90 0.07 0.53 2.29 1.00 0.11 2.93 0.24 
			 Castington 1.93 0.02 0.57 1.65 0.69 0.12 2.59 0.13 
			 Cookham Wood 3.36 0.02 1.51 0.13 1.38 0.03 2.73 0.00 
			 Deerbolt 1.53 0.08 0.89 1.55 0.44 0.06 1.22 0.03 
			 Feltham 1.77 0.07 0.63 1.54 1.29 0.22 2.14 0.70 
			 Glen Parva 1.01 0.06 0.56 1.64 0.96 0.08 2.10 0.10 
			 Hindley 2.47 0.03 0.91 1.19 0.80 0.08 2.82 0.08 
			 Huntercombe 2.40 0.16 0.94 1.46 0.70 0.16 1.87 0.07 
			 Lancaster Farms 1.82 0.17 0.46 1.35 1.00 0.08 3.18 0.24 
			 Northallerton 2.01 0.06 0.61 1.52 0.55 0.08 1.82 0.00 
			 Portland 1.22 0.08 0.40 1.80 0.68 0.12 3.87 0.01 
			 Reading 0.97 0.20 0.76 2.11 0.83 0.11 2.69 0.00 
			 Rochester 0.59 0.01 0.64 2.72 0.60 0.25 1.67 0.00 
			 Stoke Heath 1.49 0.07 0.73 2.01 0.79 0.10 1.96 0.08 
			 Swinfen Hall 1.66 0.03 0.61 2.16 0.66 0.10 2.50 0.01 
			 Thorn Cross 2.33 0.06 1.31 3.02 1.43 0.19 6.97 0.00 
			 Warren Hill 3.48 0.06 0.51 0.66 0.88 0.11 2.69 0.12 
			 Werrington 4.00 0.19 0.84 0.67 0.46 0.18 1.08 0.03 
			 Wetherby 2.34 0.00 0.90 1.18 1.94 0.06 2.56 0.13 
			 (1) Association is a daily average over the full seven-day week. All other figures relate to a weekday average.

Detainees: Afghanistan

Christopher Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the written ministerial statement of 5 March 2009,  Official Report, columns 65-67WS, on the Justice and Home Affairs Council, what discussions she had with her EU counterparts on the return of Guantanamo detainees at the lunchtime meeting during the Justice and Home Affairs Council on 26 February 2009.

Jacqui Smith: During the Justice and Home Council on 26 February 2009 I took part in a closed working lunch for Interior Ministers during which there was an informal exchange of views on the situation in Guantanamo. Specifically, for the first time, Interior Ministers discussed the decision by US President Barack Obama to close the Guantanamo detention centre within a year.
	Following discussion in the General Affairs and External Relations Council on 26 January, where it was recognised that the primary responsibility for closing Guantanamo rests with the United States, discussions focused on whether there were ways in which member states could assist the United States, given common interests in counter-terrorism, human rights and the rule of law. It was also acknowledged that such potential assistance raised a number of political, legal and security issues which would need further study and consultation.
	Ministers agreed that any decision to accept former detainees was a national decision. Ministers also agreed that further discussion with the United States on this matter was desirable.

Domestic Violence: Crime Prevention

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent steps her Department has taken to reduce incidents of domestic violence in  (a) Coventry and  (b) the West Midlands.

Alan Campbell: holding answer 24 March 2009
	Every Government office received 350,000 in 2008-09 to support work to tackle domestic and sexual violence across their region. In Coventry a range of initiatives have been supported such as; early intervention pilots, an independent domestic violence adviser and associated training, a domestic violence enforcement campaign and capacity building to support the roll out of the Coventry Multi Agency Risk Assessment conference.

Group of Twenty: London Summit

Adam Holloway: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 18 March 2009,  Official Report, columns 1186-7W, on Group of Twenty: London Summit, how much of the cost to the public purse is accounted for by policing costs.

Vernon Coaker: holding answer 24 March 2009
	Policing costs are an operational matter for the Chief Officers of the forces concerned.
	Of the current estimate of 19 million for the costs of the London Summit it is thought that about a third of this is related to policing and security costs.

Immigration Controls: Overseas Students

Mark Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 12 March 2009,  Official Report, columns 636-37W, on immigration controls: educational institutions, what will be acceptable as verifiable evidence that the necessary funds are available.

Phil Woolas: holding answer 30 March 2009
	The information requested by the hon. Gentleman is set out in paragraph 132 of the Tier 4Policy guidance. This document is available in the House of Commons Library and has also been published on the UK Border Agency website.

Members: Correspondence

Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when she plans to reply to the letter of 10 February 2009 from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton, with regard to Mr T Veal.

Jacqui Smith: I wrote to my right hon. Friend on 25 March 2009.

Members: Correspondence

David Winnick: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when she plans to provide a substantive reply to the letter from the hon. Member for Walsall North of 17 February 2009 to the Chief Executive of the Highways Agency concerning a constituent, reference M3560/9.

Phil Woolas: holding answer 30 March 2009
	The chief executive of the UK Border Agency, Lin Homer, wrote to my hon. Friend on 25 March 2009.

Members: Correspondence

Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when she plans to reply to the letter to her dated 19 February 2009 from the right hon. Member for Manchester Gorton with regard to Rana Faisal Mahmood.

Jacqui Smith: I wrote to my right hon. Friend on 25 March 2009.

Offensive Weapons: Crime Prevention

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps she is taking to reduce levels of knife crime; and what assessment she has made of the efficacy of each type of intervention.

Alan Campbell: In June last year, the Government, with the support of the police service, launched the Tackling Knives Action Programme (TKAP) to address the pressing concern around teenage knife crime in the England and Wales, focusing resources in 10 areas of the country. In total, over 5 million was given for targeted action. On 11 March, the Home Secretary announced the extension to the Programme for another year, with an extended focus on gang-related and serious youth violence, targeting 13 to 24 year-olds. Two new police forces, Hampshire and Kent, have also now joined the programme.
	In the past 10 months, the TKAP forces and their local areas have undertaken a wide range of work to clamp down on teenage knife violence. This includes enforcement operations, education and other work with schools, and an award-winning marketing campaign.
	Provisional data published by the Department of Health on 12 March shows encouraging results to date. In June to November 2008 there were 31 per cent. fewer admissions to NHS hospitals for stab wounds, among those aged 13 to 19 years, in the nine English TKAP areas, compared to the same period last year. This is compared to an 18 per cent. reduction in non-TKAP areas over the same period.

Roads: Accidents

Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many  (a) arrests,  (b) prosecutions and  (c) convictions there have been of drivers of high vehicles for offences committed in connection with crashes with low bridges in the last five years.

Alan Campbell: The information requested on arrests is not collected centrally.
	The arrests collection held by the Home Office covers arrests for recorded crime (notifiable offences) only, broken down at a main offence group level, covering categories such as violence against the person and robbery. It is not possible to separately identify offences of dangerous and careless driving from within these offence groups.
	Additionally, data held centrally by the Ministry of Justice on court proceedings for motoring offences do not contain information about the type of vehicle involved, other than the description provided in the statute under which proceedings are brought. Information is also not held centrally on the circumstances which were brought to the courts attention as part of the proceedings.

Telecommunications: Databases

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 4 March 2009,  Official Report, column 1642W, on telecommunications: databases, when the public consultation process will commence.

Jacqui Smith: The communications data consultation publication date is currently being finalised. We intend to publish the document shortly.

Terrorism

Patrick Mercer: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 11 March 2009,  Official Report, column 925W, on terrorism, how much  (a) has been spent and  (b) is expected to be spent by police forces in England and Wales on the delivery of counter-terrorism local profiles.

Vernon Coaker: Production of counter-terrorism local profiles (CTLPs) is a core function of police CT environments, and spending on CTLPs is not recorded separately. However, in order to provide support to the first round of production, we are making total funding of 688,252 available for 2009-10 to forces to increase analytical resources.

Abortion

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with reference to the answer to the then hon. Member for Ilford North of 16 July 1996,  Official Report, columns 494-6, on abortion, if he will make a statement on the statistically most likely candidate in  (a) England and Wales and  (b) each health authority for an abortion in the latest year for which figures are available in terms of (i) the marital status of the woman, (ii) the age of the woman, (iii) the gestation of the pregnancy, (iv) the number of previous children born by the woman,  (e) the number of previous abortions undergone by the woman and  (f) the legal grounds under which the abortion was performed; and how many abortions were performed in each health authority in each year since 1979, broken down by the above categories.

Dawn Primarolo: The information for 2007 is shown in the following table. The same information for the previous 28 years could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
	
		
			  Most common( 1 ) conditions for women having abortions in 2007, by strategic health authority of residence 
			   Marital Status  Age  Gestation  Number of previous children  Number of previous abortions  Ground 
			 England and Wales Single with partner 19  7 0 0 C 
			 East Midlands Single no partner 19 8 0 0 C 
			 East of England Single no partner 19 8 0 0 C 
			 London Single with partner 23 7 0 0 C 
			 North East Single with partner 20 8 0 0 C 
			 North West Single with partner 19 8 0 0 C 
			 South Central Single with partner 19 7 0 0 C 
			 South East Coast Single with partner 18 7 0 0 C 
			 South West Single with partner 19 8 0 0 C 
			 West Midlands Single with partner 20 7 0 0 C 
			 Yorkshire and Humber Single with partner 19 8 0 0 C 
			 Wales Single with partner 19 8 0 0 C 
			 (1) Statistical mode (highest frequency)

Alcoholic Drinks: Misuse

Sally Keeble: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many girls and young women aged between  (a) 10 and 16,  (b) 17 and 21,  (c) 22 and 26 and  (d) over 26 years have been hospitalised for alcohol-related conditions in each of the last five years.

Dawn Primarolo: Data on the number of individual girls and young women hospitalised for alcohol-related conditions is not available, however data on the number of alcohol-related hospital admissions for girls and young women is available and is given in the following table. It is important to note that:
	an individual may account for more than one admission,
	the data given in the following table is for alcohol-related hospital admissions only, as data is not available centrally from which alcohol-related attendances in accident and emergency (A and E) departments can be identified, and
	most attendances at A and E will not result in admission to hospital.
	
		
			  Finished alcohol-related admissions of females aged 10 or over, 2003-04  to  2007-08 
			  Age  2003-04  2004-05  2005-06  2006-07  2007-08 
			 10 to 16 4,472 4,869 5,255 5,214 5,408 
			 17 to 21 8,695 9,772 11,729 11,856 13,007 
			 22 to 26 8,444 9,470 11,237 11,634 12,132 
			 Over 26 196,625 221,267 250,859 271,276 295,296 
			  Notes: Includes activity in English national health service hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector.  Alcohol-related admissions: The number of alcohol-related admissions is based on the methodology developed by the North West Public Health Observatory (NWPHO). Following international best practice, the NWPHO methodology includes a wide range of diseases and injuries in which alcohol plays a part and estimates the proportion of cases that are attributable to the consumption of alcohol. Details of the conditions and associated proportions can be found in the report Jones et al. (2008) Alcohol-attributable fractions for England: Alcohol-attributable mortality and hospital admissions. Figures for under 16s only include admissions where one or more alcohol-specific conditions were listed. This is because the research on which the attributable fractions are based does not cover under 16s. Alcohol-specific conditions are those that are wholly attributed to alcoholthat is, those with an attributable fraction of one. They are: Alcoholic cardiomyopathy (142.6) Alcoholic gastritis (K29.2) Alcoholic myopathy (G72.1) Alcoholic polyneuropathy (G62.1) Alcohol-induced pseudo-Cushing's syndrome (E24.4) Degeneration of nervous system due to alcohol (G31.2) Mental and behavioural disorders due to use of alcohol (F10) Accidental poisoning by and exposure to alcohol (X45) Ethanol poisoning (T51.0) Methanol poisoning (T51.1) Toxic effect of alcohol, unspecified (T51.9) Number of episodes in which the patient had an alcohol-related primary or secondary diagnosis These figures represent the number of episodes where an alcohol-related diagnosis was recorded in any of the 20 (14 from 2002-03 to 2006-07 and seven prior to 2002-03) primary and secondary diagnosis fields in a hospital episode statistics (HES) record. Each episode is only counted once in each count, even if an alcohol-related diagnosis is recorded in more than one diagnosis field of the record.  Ungrossed data: Figures have not been adjusted for shortfalls in data (i.e. the data are ungrossed).  Finished admission episodes: A finished admission episode is the first period of inpatient care under one consultant within one healthcare provider. Finished admission episodes are counted against the year in which the admission episode finishes. Admissions do not represent the number of inpatients, as a person may have more than one admission within the year. 
			  Primary diagnosis: The primary diagnosis is the first of up to 20 (14 from 2002-03 to 2006-07 and seven prior to 2002-03) diagnosis fields in the HES data set and provides the main reason why the patient was admitted to hospital.  Secondary diagnosis: As well as the primary diagnosis, there are up to 19 (13 from 2002-03 to 2007-08 and six prior to 2002-03) secondary diagnosis fields in HES that show other diagnoses relevant to the episode of care.  Data quality: HES are compiled from data sent by more than 300 NHS trusts and primary care trusts in England. Data is also received from a number of independent sector organisations for activity commissioned by the English NHS. The NHS Information Centre for health and social care liaises closely with these organisations to encourage submission of complete and valid data and seeks to minimise inaccuracies and the effect of missing and invalid data via HES processes. While this brings about improvement over time, some shortcomings remain.  Assessing growth through time: HES figures are available from 1989-90 onwards. The quality and coverage of the data have improved over time. These improvements in information submitted by the NHS have been particularly marked in the earlier years and need to be borne in mind when analysing time series. Some of the increase in figures for later years (particularly 2006-07 onwards) may be due to the improvement in the coverage of independent sector activity. Changes in NHS practice also need to be borne in mind when analysing time series. For example, a number of procedures may now be undertaken in outpatient settings and may no longer be accounted for in the HES data. This may account for any reductions in activity over time.  Assignment of episodes to years: Years are assigned by the end of the first period of care in a patient's hospital stay.  Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), The NHS Information Centre for health and social care

Blood: Donors

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 23 February 2009,  Official Report, column 199W, on blood: donation, for what reasons the units were not transfused.

Dawn Primarolo: The following table shows total red cell units issued to hospitals in England and North Wales reporting data to the Blood Stocks Management scheme which were not transfused; the percentage of units issued which were not transfused; and a breakdown of the reasons the units were not transfused in each year since 2005-06:
	
		
			  Financial Year  Red cells issued and not transfused  Total percentage red cells issued and not transfused( 1)  Reason not transfused( 2)  Percentage breakdown by reason of units issued and not transfused 
			 2005-06 35,917 2.56 Time Expired 73.8 
			OTCOL 18.4 
			MISC 5.6 
			FF 2.2 
			 2006-07 31,620 2.24 Time Expired 70.2 
			OTCOL 21.3 
			MISC 7.1 
			FF 1.4 
			 2007-08 30,188 2.21 Time Expired 70.2 
			OTCOL 21.8 
			MISC 5.9 
			FF 2.1 
			 (1 )Figures given to one decimal place in answer of 23 February 2009,  Official Report, column 199W. (2) Wastage reasons: OTCOL-out of temperature control outside laboratory (unit failed thirty minute rule). FF-fridge failure (physical failure of blood bank). MISC-Miscellaneous (any other reason not covered by the other three reasons). 
		
	
	The figures given for the percentage of red cell units issued and not transfused for each financial year correct the information in the written answer given to the hon. Member on 23 February 2009,  Official Report, column 199W.

Care Homes: Fees and Charges

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with reference to the contribution of the hon. Member for Bury South on 11 December 2007,  Official Report, column 52WH, when the Government plan to provide care home self-funders with access to an independent element in the complaints process.

Phil Hope: The Health Bill, currently before Parliament, contains provisions to extend the remit of the Local Government Ombudsman to allow service users who purchase their own adult social care services to have their complaint investigated by the Ombudsman. Subject to the passage of legislation, it is intended that the new scheme should be implemented in 2010.

Care Homes: Standards

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with reference to the answer to the hon. Member for Eastbourne of 27 November 2007,  Official Report, column 416W, on care homes: standards, if he will place in the Library a copy of the report on the review of the National Framework for NHS Continuing Healthcare and NHS-funded Nursing Care.

Phil Hope: The review of the National Framework for NHS Continuing Healthcare and NHS-funded Nursing Care is ongoing. The revised Framework and support tools will be published later this year.

Dental Services

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when the NHS Information Centre plans to publish information on the number of patients seen by dentists in each primary care trust area; when the information was first scheduled for publication; what the reasons are for the time taken to publish this data; and if he will make a statement.

Ann Keen: The latest figures published by the NHS Information Centre for health and social care on the number of patients seen by a national health service dentist in each primary care trust (PCT) were released on 26 February 2009. These were included within the 'NHS Dental Statistics for England, Quarter 2: 30 September 2008' report.
	Patients seen information by PCT is available in Table Dl of Annex 3 of the above report. The latest period that they contained data for was the 24-month period ending 30 September 2008.
	This report has already been placed in the Library and is also available on the NHS Information Centre website at:
	www.ic.nhs.uk/pubs/dentalstats0809q2
	Patients seen information is published quarterly. The NHS Information Centre expects to publish the next patients seen information on 21 May 2009. This publication will contain information on patients seen by an NHS dentist in the 24-month period ending 31 December 2008.
	Sub-national information on patients seen was not published on 21 August 2008 as part of the end of year 'NHS Dental Statistics for England 2007/08' report due to concerns over the allocation of patients to PCTs across the various quarters. These concerns were examined by the NHS Information Centre in consultation with the NHS Dental Services of the NHS Business Services Authority and were addressed by the inclusion of additional technical information to enhance interpretation of the patient seen measure in the 'NHS Dental Statistics for England, Quarter 1: 30 June 2008' report, published on 27 November 2008. This report contained sub-national information on the numbers of patients seen for the 24-month period ending 30 June 2008 as usual, and also included the information for the 24-month period 31 March 2008, originally omitted from the 2007-08 end of year report.
	This report has already been placed in the Library and is also available on the NHS Information Centre website at:
	www.ic.nhs.uk/pubs/dentalstats0809ql

General Practitioners: Finance

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many general practitioner practices received the initial incentive payment  (a) component one and  (b) component two in 2006-07.

Ben Bradshaw: Practice-based commissioning (PBC) incentive schemes are administered locally by primary care trusts. The Department did not routinely monitor receipt by general practitioner (GP) practices of component one or component two of the 2006-07 PBC Directed Enhanced Service scheme.
	Data from strategic health authorities shows that 8,067 GP practices received an incentive scheme payment in 2006-07. This figure does not discriminate between payments under component one of the nationally negotiated PBC Direct Enhanced Service scheme or a locally agreed alternative that may have been offered. No data have been collected centrally relating to component two payments.

Health Services: Developing Countries

Julie Kirkbride: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress his Department has made in implementing the recommendation in Lord Crisp's report on global health partnerships in respect of creating healthcare links between the UK and developing countries; and what projects have been established as a result.

Dawn Primarolo: The Government gave their response to Lord Crisp's report in March 2008. Since then the Department has been working with the Department of International Development to implement several recommendations from the Crisp report. This includes:
	an independent evaluation of healthcare links between the United Kingdom and developing countries, completed in May 2008;
	a Links Centre to help signpost, advise and develop healthcare links, operational from May 2009;
	a Funding scheme that will provide some 1.25 million per year over three years, also operating from May 2009; and
	a Department of Health Framework for International Development. This will provide greater clarity on how individuals, NHS and allied agencies can best maximise their potential through healthcare links with developing countries. We are holding a series of consultation events over the summer for publication in October 2009.

Hospitals: Camden

Frank Dobson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what spending reductions NHS London are seeking from hospitals providing services to people in Camden; and what the proposed timetable for implementation of those reductions is.

Ben Bradshaw: Primary care trust (PCT) allocations for 2009 to 2010 and 2010 to 2011 were announced on 8 December. It is for the national health service to decide locally how best to meet the national priorities set out in the 'NHS Operating Framework' including how much funding to make available. It is for PCTs to commission the services they require to meet the health care needs of the local populations and patients they serve taking into account both local and national priorities.
	However, the boards of all 31 PCTs in London have agreed in principle to support NHS London's medium term financial strategy, to address long term deficits within some NHS organisations in London. All PCTs, with the exception of those repaying historical deficits, will be contributing on average 0.8 per cent. of their resource baseline in 2009-10 and 0.75 per cent. in 2010-11 as part of the plan.
	This is in line with the 2009-10 Operating Framework which states that strategic health authorities (SHAs) may determine and agree arrangements locally with their PCTs for the transfer and lodging of resources with the SHA, provided this is within the overall limits of the SHA planned surplus. SHAs will be accountable for the management of this flexibility. The hon. Member may therefore wish to raise this directly with London Strategic Health Authority.
	London NHS Trusts and NHS Foundation Trusts will not be contributing any of their income towards NHS London's medium term financial plan.

Medical Records: Databases

Eleanor Laing: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many  (a) records and  (b) data fields there are in (i) the Population Demographics Service, (ii) the Summary Care Record, (iii) the Secondary Uses Service, (iv) the Electronic Prescription Service, (v) the Out of Hours system, (vi) the Picture Archiving and Communications system, (vii) the Radiology Information System, (viii) Choose and Book, (ix) the Detailed Care Record system and (x) the National Childhood Obesity Database.

Ben Bradshaw: Comprehensive information on numbers of records is not available. Out of hours, radiology, and most detailed care records systems, are procured and managed locally by primary care trusts and national health Service trusts. Information is not collected centrally on the number of records these systems hold, or on the number of detailed care records held in data centres operated in connection with the national programme for information technology.
	In addition, while national activity data is collected and published on an annual basis about imaging and radiodiagnostic examinations and tests, it is not possible to differentiate historic data in terms of those that were stored using picture archiving and communications systems.
	For other systems, information as at 13 March 2009, is in the following table.
	
		
			  System/Service  Records/data items 
			 Personal Demographics Service A record for every patient treated by the NHS in England - approximately 70 million records 
			 Summary Care Records 249,000 records 
			 Secondary Uses Service 1.3 billion coded data summaries 
			 Electronic Prescriptions Service 178 million prescription messages 
			 Choose and Book 14.4 million bookings 
			 National Childhood Obesity Database 2.388 million records 
		
	
	Information on data fields could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. Systems involve the use of application software, and in some cases multiple applications, each with its own data model containing potentially thousands of data fields. There is no database function that will count the number of data fields in a database, and to do so would involve a manual process that could take many hours in each case.

NHS: ICT

Nigel Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 23 February 2009,  Official Report, columns 203-4W, on departmental ICT, on what occasions the exemption referred to has been applied in the NHS IT programme.

Ben Bradshaw: The exemption referred to has been relied upon in relation to extensions to the choose and book contract, 'spine' contract, and the current contracts with the programme's local service providers, BT and CSC. The Department has taken appropriate legal advice in all cases.

NHS: Manpower

Julie Kirkbride: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people were working in  (a) patient-facing and  (b) non patient-facing roles in the NHS on the latest date for which figures are available.

Ann Keen: The following table gives the total number of people employed in the national health service in patient facing services.
	
		
			  2008 
			   Number 
			 Total 1,149,276 
			   
			  Professionally qualified clinical staff (excl retainers) 701,324 
			 All doctors 133,662 
			 All doctors (excl retainers)(1) 133,155 
			 Consultants (including Directors of public health) 34,910 
			 Registrars 35,042 
			 Other doctors in training 14,136 
			 Hospital practitioners and clinical assistants (non-dental specialties)(2) 2,761 
			 Other medical and dental staff 11,854 
			 GPs (excl retainers)(3) 37,213 
			 GPs excluding retainers and registrars 34,010 
			 GP Providers 27,347 
			 Other GPs 6,663 
			 GP registrars(4) 3,203 
			 GP retainers 507 
			 Total qualified nursing staff(5) 408,160 
			 Qualified nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff 386,112 
			 GP practice nurses(3, 6) 22,048 
			 Total qualified scientific, therapeutic and technical staff(7) 142,558 
			 Qualified Allied Health Professions 71,301 
			 Other qualified scientific, therapeutic and technical staff 71,257 
			 Qualified ambulance staff(8) 17,451 
			   
			  Support to clinical staff 355,010 
			 Support to doctors and nursing staff 286,254 
			 Support to scientific, therapeutic and technical staff 55,689 
			 Support to ambulance staff 13,067 
			 Other GP practice staff(3) 92,436 
		
	
	The following table gives the total number of people employed by the national health service in non-patient facing roles.
	
		
			  2008 
			   Number 
			 Total 219,417 
			 Total NHS infrastructure support 219,064 
			 Central functions 105,354 
			 Hotel, property and estates 73,797 
			 Manager and senior manager 39,913 
			  Other non-medical staff or those with unknown classification 353 
			 (1) All doctors excluding GP retainers. (2) In order to avoid double counting these staff are excluded from the all doctors totals, as they are predominantly GPs that work part time in hospitals (applies to headcount data only). (3) GP Data as at 1 October 1998-99 and 30 September 2000-08. (4) GP Registrar count for 2008 represents an improvement in data collection processes and comparisons with previous years should be treated with caution. (5) Nursing and midwifery figures exclude students on training courses leading to a first qualification as a nurse or midwife. (6) Headcount practice nurse figures are estimated for 1998 and 1999 based on the 1997 fte to headcount ratio. (7) To make the census data comparable with the review body for nursing staff and other health professionals definitions, qualified Allied Health Professionals (AHPs) now include speech and language therapists (previously these were included in other qualified ST and T staff). For comparability historical data has been reassigned to match the revised definition. The numbers of AHPs will not match those published in previous years. (8) In 2006 ambulance staff were collected under new, more detailed, occupation codes. As a result, qualified totals and support to ambulance staff totals are not directly comparable with previous years.

Pregnancy: Dietary Supplements

David Burrowes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much was spent on vitamin D supplements for  (a) children aged between six months and four years and  (b) pregnant and breastfeeding women in 2008-09.

Dawn Primarolo: Vitamin supplements, which include vitamin D, are provided free to Healthy Start beneficiaries. In the first three quarters of 2008-09 the cost of supplements provided through the scheme was in the region of 20,000. Data for the final quarter is not yet available. Vitamins can also be prescribed by general practitioners, and national health service prescriptions are free for pregnant women, new mothers and all children. Data as to the numbers and cost of supplements containing vitamin D prescribed in this way are not collected centrally.

Respite Care: Finance

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 11 December 2008,  Official Report, column 237W, on respite care, what percentage of the 150 million each primary care trust will receive, according to the weighted capitation formula.

Phil Hope: The 150 million is part of overall primary care trust (PCT) revenue allocations. The 2008-09 PCT allocations represent a 74.2 billion investment in the national health service, which is increasing by a further 8.6 billion over 2009-10 and 2010-11. These overall allocations are not broken down into funding for individual policies by PCT. There is not a weighted capitation formula specific to respite care that would allow needs to be accurately identified at the local level. Rather it is for PCTs to decide their priorities for investment locally, taking into account both local priorities and the NHS operating framework.

Sight Impaired: North West

Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many blind people there are in the constituencies of  (a) Pendle,  (b) Burnley,  (c) Ribble Valley,  (d) Blackburn,  (e) Hyndburn and  (g) Rossendale and Darwen.

Phil Hope: Data on the number of blind people is not collected centrally by constituency, but is available for councils with adult social services responsibilities and government office regions. The register is voluntary and so cannot be thought of as providing a definitive measure.
	The constituencies of Pendle, Burnley, Ribble Valley, Hyndburn and Rossendale all fall within the boundaries of Lancashire county council. The other two constituencies requested, Blackburn and Darwen, fall within the boundaries of Blackburn with Darwen borough council.
	The number of people registered as blind, as at 31 March 2008, was 3,540 in Lancashire county council and 530 in Blackburn in Darwen borough council.

Arms Trade: Exports

Michael Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the Answer of 12 January 2009,  Official Report, column 354W, on arms trade: exports, what assessment he has made of the compliance of UK legislation with the operational requirements of the EU Common Position on defining common rules governing the control of exports of military technology and equipment as set out in Articles 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12 and 13; and if he will make a statement.

Bill Rammell: The UK is in a position to implement the Common Position, and will not require any change to UK Legislation to comply with its operational requirements. However, the Statutory Guidance contained within the Export Control Act 2002 still refers to the language in the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria. Statutory Guidance is currently being amended to reflect the adoption of the Common Position.

Belarus

Claire Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the answer of 23 March 2009,  Official Report, column 21W, whether the President of Belarus will be invited to attend the Eastern Partnership summit in May.

Caroline Flint: The issue of whether to invite President Lukashenko to the Eastern Partnership summit in May 2009 has not yet been decided. EU member states will be discussing this issue shortly.

British Council: Finance

Paul Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the Answer of 13 March 2009,  Official Report, column 778W, on British Council: finance, if he will publish details of the professional evaluation in place to monitor the British Council's Reconnect Programme.

Caroline Flint: holding answer 27 March 2009
	 The British Council's Reconnect programme will be evaluated according to its ongoing monitoring and evaluation processes. The outcome of the British Council's programme and project evaluation is aggregated and published in the organisation's annual report.

Conflict Prevention

Michael Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the written ministerial statement of 25 March 2009,  Official Report, columns 17-19WS, on conflict resources 2009-10, what the Government's expenditure on conflict resources in financial year 2008-09 was; and what proportion of this total was spent through the  (a) Conflict Prevention Pool,  (b) Stabilisation Aid Fund and  (c) Treasury Reserve for Peacekeeping.

Bill Rammell: The UK's total conflict resource envelope for 2008-09 (leaving aside the cost of UK military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq) was set at the time of the Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) at 559 million: 112 million Conflict Prevention Pool; 73 million Stabilisation Aid Fund; 374 million Peacekeeping Budget (PKB)although the PKB is an annual draw on the Treasury Reserve rather than part of the CSR settlement).

Conflict Prevention

Michael Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the written ministerial statement of 25 March 2009,  Official Report, columns 17-19WS, on conflict resources 2009-10, what changes have been made to the funding for thematic programmes; what proportion of this funding will be allocated to  (a) security sector reform advisory,  (b) peacekeeping training,  (c) defence education in priority countries and  (d) the United Nations' Rule of Law Unit; and if he will make a statement.

Bill Rammell: The Strategic Support to International Organisations Programme (SSIO) will merge the existing Conflict Prevention Pool International Capacity Building and Security and Small Arms Control Programmes. Of the total 6.5 million allocated to SSIO  (a) 1,883,000 (28.9 per cent.) has been allocated to security sector reform advisory,  (b) 950,000 (14.6 per cent.) has been allocated to UK peacekeeping training,  (c) 1,000,000 (15.3 per cent.) for defence education, and  (d) 100,000 (1.5 per cent.) to the UN's Rule of Law Unit from of a total 2,069,000 (31.8 per cent.) of support to the UN Secretariat. Additionally there is an element of 408,000 (6.2 per cent.) for support to strategic secondments to international organisations and a contingency element of 190,000 (2.9 per cent.).

Naser Al-Shaer

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports he has received on the arrest of Israel's former Deputy Prime Minister Naser Al-Shaer and other Palestinian parliamentarians in the West Bank; and if he will make a statement.

Bill Rammell: We are aware of reports on the arrest of Deputy Prime Minister Naser Al-Shaer and other Palestinian parliamentarians in the West Bank. However, we along with the international community want to see a lasting political solution to the conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians. We do not think that arresting the Hamas political leadership in the West Bank is a positive step.

Overseas Territories Consultative Council

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the answer of 12 March 2009,  Official Report, columns 626-27W, on economic situation, what expenditure was incurred under what budgetary headings his Department incurred on its Overseas Territories Consultative Council held on 28 and 29 October 2008.

Gillian Merron: The overall cost of the Overseas Territories Consultative Council held on 28 and 29 October 2008 was 31,688.61 which breaks down as follows:
	
		
			
			 Conference facilities, including a formal lunch and evening reception 15,869.16 
			 Accommodation 10,414.10 
			 Transport 5,040.51 
			 Miscellaneous items 364.84 
		
	
	All charges were funded by the Overseas Territories Programme Fund, which is administered by the Overseas Territories Directorate other than the cost of the evening reception which was funded by the Government Hospitality fund which is administered by Protocol Directorate of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Special Envoy for Conflict Resolution

Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs which non-governmental organisations the Prime Minister's Special Envoy for Conflict Resolution has met since his appointment; and what issues were raised.

Bill Rammell: The right hon. Jack McConnell MSP, the Prime Minister's Special Representative for Conflict Resolution Mechanisms, meets a range of governments, regional organisations and international institutions to promote dialogue on my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister's initiative to improve the international mechanisms for conflict resolution. Meetings with non-governmental organisations are built into his programme when he visits the United Nations and others.

Sri Lanka: Foreign Relations

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when he expects the Prime Minister's special envoy to Sri Lanka to take up his post; and if he will make a statement.

Bill Rammell: On 12 February 2009, my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister announced the appointment of the right hon. Des Brown MP as his Special Envoy for Sri Lanka. The appointment is a measure of the UK's continuing commitment to Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan government are yet to accept the appointment, but we remain in ongoing discussions with them on the issue.

Western Sahara: Fisheries

Katy Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the answer of 10 March 2009,  Official Report, column 228W, on Western Sahara: fisheries, if he will make it his policy to seek the inclusion of a reference to Western Sahara in any future fisheries agreement between the EU and Morocco.

Bill Rammell: The current EU-Morocco Fisheries Partnership Association (FPA) came into force on 28 February 2007 and runs for four years. Any future negotiations on the expiry of the FPA will take into account any changes in the current situation of Western Sahara that may occur over that time.

Health Education: Sex

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families pursuant to the answer of 18 May 2009,  Official Report, column 1248W, on health education: sex, if he will place in the Library a copy of the evidence the Sex and Relationships Education Steering Group commissioned on parents' views on sex and relationships education; and if he will make a statement.

Beverley Hughes: A copy of the presentations given to the sex and relationships education (SRE) steering groupwhich summarised the available evidence on parents' views on SREwill be placed in the House Libraries. The presentations provided the basis for detailed discussion by the steering group (many of whom have practical experience of working with parents on SRE) on how schools can better engage with parents on SRE delivery.
	We believe that the provision of SRE should be a partnership between parents and schools. Parents should lead on instilling values in their children, but schools have a clear role in giving young people accurate information and helping them to develop the skills they need to make safe and responsible choices. Available evidence suggests that the majority of parents support the provision of SRE in schools.

Schools: Disadvantaged

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families 
	(1)  how many  (a) maintained and  (b) non-maintained special schools in the (i) top and (ii) bottom decile of area deprivation as determined by the income deprivation affecting children index were judged to be (A) outstanding, (B) good, (C) adequate and (D) inadequate at their last Ofsted inspection;
	(2)  To how many and what proportion of schools assessed as inadequate by Ofsted there are in each decile of area deprivation.

Jim Knight: These are matters for Ofsted. HM Chief Inspector, Christine Gilbert, has written to the hon. Member and copies of her replies have been placed in the House Libraries.
	 Letter from Christine Gilbert, dated 23 March 2009:
	 Parliamentary Question Number 264609: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, how many (a) maintained and (b) non-maintained special schools in the (i) top and (ii) bottom decile of area deprivation as determined by the income deprivation affecting children index were judged to be (A) outstanding, (B) good, (C) adequate and (D) inadequate at their last Ofsted inspection.
	Your recent parliamentary question has been passed to me, as Her Majesty's Chief Inspector, for reply.
	Table A shows the number of maintained special schools and non-maintained special schools inspected by Ofsted in the 10% most deprived and 10% least deprived areas, along with their inspection outcomes. These indices of deprivation are taken from the income deprivation affecting children index (IDACI) 2007, produced by the Department for Communities and Local Government.
	
		
			  Table AOverall effectiveness of special schools at their most recent inspection under the current inspection framework 
			Overall effectiveness: number of schools inspected  
			  Type of special school  IDACI( 1)  Outstanding  Good  Satisfactory  Inadequate  Total 
			 Maintained special schools 10% most deprived areas 38 56 18 3 115 
			  10% least deprived areas 23 55 17 2 97 
			
			 Non-maintained special schools 10% most deprived areas 0 0 0 0 0 
			  10% least deprived areas 3 5 3 0 11 
			 (1) Income deprivation affecting children index 2007 (Department for Communities and Local Government) 
		
	
	As at 2 March 2009, 984 maintained special schools and 73 non-maintained schools were open in England; 958 of the maintained special schools and 70 of the non-maintained special schools have been inspected by Ofsted up to 31 December 2008, the latest inspection data available. Schools in the 10% least deprived and 10% most deprived areas were then identified using their postcodes.
	One non-maintained special school in the 10% of most deprived areas was last inspected under the previous inspection framework, in use before September 2005. This is not included in Table A. The inspection outcome for this non-maintained special school was good. Under the previous school inspection framework (commonly known as Section 10), the overall effectiveness judgement was made using a seven point scale: excellent, very good, good, satisfactory, unsatisfactory, poor and very poor. It is not possible to operate a simple read-across approach from a seven- to a four-point scale. Ofsted's criteria for making inspection judgements about schools are clearly set out in our inspection guidance. Inspectors do not make reference to, or comparisons with, the previous inspection framework.
	A copy of this reply has been sent to Rt Hon Jim Knight MP, Minister of State for Schools and Learners and will be placed in the library of both Houses.
	 Letter from Christine Gilbert, dated 23 March 2009:
	 Parliamentary Question Number 264670: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, how many and what proportion of schools assessed as inadequate by Ofsted there are in each decile of area deprivation.
	Your recent parliamentary question has been passed to me, as Her Majesty's Chief Inspector, for reply.
	Table A shows the number and proportion of maintained schools found to be inadequate at their last inspection, allocated to ten bands according to the income deprivation affecting children index (IDACI) 2007, produced by the Department for Communities and Local Government, where 1 indicates the most deprived 10%, and 10 indicates the least deprived 10%.
	
		
			  Table ASchools with inadequate overall effectiveness at their most recent inspection, by area deprivation 
			  Bands of deprivation (based on IDACI( 1) )  Number of schools  Percentage 
			 1 (most deprived 10%) 87 19 
			 2 58 13 
			 3 68 15 
			 4 54 12 
			 5 52 11 
			 6 39 8 
			 7 27 6 
			 8 31 7 
			 9 30 6 
			 10 (least deprived 10%) 17 4 
			 Total 463 100 
			 (1) Income deprivation affecting children index 2007 (Department for Communities and Local Government)  Note: Percentages are rounded and do not always add exactly to 100 
		
	
	As of 2 March 2009, there were 22,391 maintained schools open in England. 22,011 of these have been inspected by Ofsted up to 31 December 2008, the latest data available, and 463 were found to be inadequate at their most recent inspection. The IDACI was used to allocate these schools into ten bands, based on their postcodes.
	A copy of this reply has been sent to Rt Hon Jim Knight MP, Minister of State for Schools and Learners and will be placed in the library of both Houses.

Special Educational Needs: Pupil Exclusions

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families 
	(1)  how many and what percentage of pupils with non-statemented special educational needs received at least one  (a) fixed-term and  (b) permanent exclusion from a mainstream school in each local authority area in each year since 1997;
	(2)  how many and what percentage of pupils with statements of special educational needs received at least one  (a) fixed-term and  (b) permanent exclusion from a mainstream school in each local authority area in each year since 1997;
	(3)  how many and what percentage of pupils without special educational needs received at least one  (a) fixed-term and  (b) permanent exclusion from mainstream schools in each local authority area in each year since 1997.

Sarah McCarthy-Fry: Data on pupil characteristics linked to exclusions was collected in the school census for the first time in 2005/06, but was collected from secondary schools only. In 2006/07, data were also collected from primary and special schools. However, the requested information for one year could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
	This is because the special educational needs status can change between periods of exclusion and the Department is currently working on a methodology for the analysis of this information.

Departmental Public Relations

Nick Hurd: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions with reference to the answer to the hon. Member for Angus of 27 March 2006,  Official Report, column 741W, on public relations companies, 
	(1)  if he will list the public relations companies that have had contracts with  (a) his Department,  (b) each (i) non-departmental public body and (ii) executive agency for which his Department is responsible and  (c) independent statutory bodies, organisations and bodies financially sponsored by his Department and other such organisations since March 2006; and what the cost to the public purse was of each such contract;
	(2)  how much was spent on each of the firms listed in the answer since June 2001.

Jonathan R Shaw: The information requested in the two questions above is provided in the following table:
	
		
			  000 
			  DWP and its Agencies:  2001-02  2002-03  2003-04  2004-05  2005-06  2006-07  2007-08 
			 Geronimo n/a 459 692 397 777 491 0 
			 Hill and Knowlton n/a 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 The Forster Company n/a 0 0 217 0 0 0 
			 Trimedia Harrison Cowley Ltd (formerly Citigate Communications) n/a 0 0 0 190 133 0 
			 Fishburn Hedges n/a 0 0 0 369 295 598 
			 August One n/a 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Porter Novelli n/a 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Consolidated Communications n/a 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Euro RSCG Biss Lancaster n/a 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Munroe and Foster n/a 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 QBO Bell Pottinger n/a 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 COI n/a 0 0 17 33 0 17 
			 Band and Brown n/a 0 242 0 0 0 0 
			 Beattie Communications n/a 0 o o 0 0 0 
			 Pergoda n/a 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 GCI London n/a 0 308 383 112 0 0 
			  NDPB's:
			  (1) Health and Safety Executive (HSE)
			 Mandate (formerly AS Biss) n/a n/a n/a 129 180 241 0 
			 Weber Shandwick n/a 0 0 0 0 0 133 
			 GCI (UK) n/a 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Exposure n/a 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Eloqui n/a 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 PR21 n/a 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Furner Communications n/a 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			  (2) Independent Living Fund(ILF)
			 Engage Group (formerly Limehouse) n/a 0 0 0 0 27 23 
			 Hill and Knowlton n/a 0 0 0 0 19 12 
			  (3) Pensions Protection Fund (PPF)
			 Fishburn Hedges n/a 0 0 0 36 71 26 
			 Martin Adeney Associates n/a 46 75 63 20 0 0 
			 David Felton Media Consultancy n/a 0 0 0 78 71 77 I 
			 Warwick Emmanuel n/a 2 16 26 33 27 45 
			 Compro PR n/a 29 10 0 0 0 0 
			 Impact Press and PR n/a 39 19 21 48 14 0 
			 Harris Associates n/a 6 80 93 109 123 93 
			 Nexus n/a 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			  (4) The Pensions Regulator (TPR)
			 Citigate Dewe Rogerson n/a 0 0 0 7 0 0 
			  (5) Remploy
			 Martin Adeney Associates 0 46 75 63 20 0 0 
			 David Felton Media Consultancy 0 0 0 0 78 71 77 
			 Warwick Emmanuel 0 2 16 26 33 27 45 
			 Compro PR 0 29 10 0 0 0 0 
			 Impact Press and PR 0 39 19 21 48 14 0 
			 Harris Associates 0 6 80 93 109 123 93 
			 Nexus 0 30 21 21 37 10 0 
			 n/a = Information is not available for 2001-02 as records were not held centrally and the Central Office of Information service was not being used. 
		
	
	The following NDPBs and other bodies have reported that they have incurred no expenditure with public relations agencies in the period in question:
	Disability Employment Advisory Committee
	Disability Living Allowance Advisory Board
	Equality 2025
	Industrial Injuries Advisory Council
	Personal Accounts Delivery Authority
	Pensions Ombudsman
	Social Security Advisory Committee
	Pensions Protection Fund Ombudsman
	The Pensions Advisory Service
	Working Ventures UK
	Motability
	Independent Review Service for the Social Fund
	The Disability Rights Commission, which was referred to in the March 2006 question, was dissolved from September 2007 and its paper and electronic records have been archived. The Department would incur disproportionate cost in accessing these records to obtain the required information.

Vacancies: Cleveland

Ashok Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many job vacancies were advertised in the Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland job centre in each month of 2008; and for what average length of time each job was advertised.

Tony McNulty: The information is in the table, and provides separate data for unfilled and notified vacancies to give the fullest picture of the number of Jobcentre Plus vacancies in any particular constituency. The labour market is dynamic and many new vacancies are filled so quickly they do not appear in the statistics for live unfilled vacancies, which are based on a snapshot of the vacancies available on a particular day.
	The coverage of these figures relates only to Jobcentre Plus notified and unfilled vacancies. Many vacancies come up through other recruitment channels and the proportion accounted for by Jobcentre Plus is likely to vary over time, according to the occupation of the vacancy and industry of the employer, and by local area. Estimates of the number of unfilled job vacancies across the economy as a whole are available from the monthly ONS Vacancy Survey, based on a sample of some 6,000 enterprises. However, the ONS survey is currently designed to provide national estimates only.
	In addition, it should be noted that parliamentary constituencies are often a poor match to the area covered by the local labour market. The number and range of jobs available to people within normal travel to work distances often extends well beyond immediate constituency boundaries.
	
		
			  T otal number of job vacancies advertised in the Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland parliamentary constituency 
			  Date  Notified vacancies live  Unfilled vacancies  Median duration 
			 January 2008 86 82 41.0 
			 February 2008 449 189 19.3 
			 March 2008 185 132 36.9 
			 April 2008 183 152 40.4 
			 May 2008 233 140 33.7 
			 June 2008 339 203 26.4 
			 July 2008 189 170 36.3 
			 August 2008 223 152 34.9 
			 September 2008 203 140 25.8 
			 October 2008 181 100 27.0 
			 November 2008 288 124 25.3 
			 December 2008 166 100 27.2 
			  Notes: 1. Data are unrounded. 2. Changes to Jobcentre Plus vacancy handling procedures have led to a major discontinuity in the vacancy statistics pre and post May 2006. Consequently, care should be taken in interpreting time-series data. 3. Notified vacancies. Monthly data on the inflow of newly notified vacancies to Jobcentre Plus. 4. The stocks of Live unfilled vacancies reflect more accurately job opportunities available via Jobcentre Plus. In the case of unfilled vacancies, use of the figures on live vacancies is recommended (i.e. excluding suspended vacancies), and this is the default option. Live vacancies may still include some vacancies which have already been filled or are otherwise no longer open. 5. To provide a geographic breakdown, in most cases the postcode of the vacancy is used to allocate the vacancy to a local area. Where this is missing or invalid, the employers' postcode or the postcode of the local Jobcentre Plus office is used. 6. These figures are published at www.nomisweb.co.uk 7. The median duration is measured in days between notification and closure. 8. For most purposes, the median will give a more representative measure of the average duration a mean figure tends to be distorted by a small number of vacancies that have very long durations.  Source: Jobcentre Plus Labour Market System

Coal: Pollution Control

Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change pursuant to the answer of 23 February 2009,  Official Report, columns 294-5W, on coal: pollution control, on what date his Department committed 2.2 million to an oxy-fuel combustion carbon capture and storage project; how much has been spent to date; and if he will make a statement.

Mike O'Brien: Doosan Babcock Energy Ltd was sent an Offer Letter Contract on 1 November 2007 by the then Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform stating an agreement to provide grant funding of some 2.2 million towards the development of an Oxy-fuel combustion project. 301,374.60 of that grant has been spent to date.

Kingsnorth Power Station

Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change pursuant to the Answer of 5 March 2009,  Official Report, column 1805W, on Kingsnorth power station, what timetable has been set for  (a) publication of the consultation document and  (b) completion of the consultation process in respect of a new framework for coal-fired power stations.

Mike O'Brien: The timetable for publication of a planned new consultation on a new framework for coal fired power stations has not yet been set.

Members: Correspondence

Michael Spicer: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change when the Minister of State will reply to the letter from the hon. Member for West Worcestershire, dated 4 November 2008 and re-faxed to the Minister's office on 5 February 2009, on Flogas.

Mike O'Brien: holding answer 20 March 2009
	I responded to the hon. Member on 26 March 2009.

Natural Gas: Prices

Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change pursuant to the Answer to the hon. Member for Romford of 23 February 2009,  Official Report, column 305W, on natural gas: prices, if he will publish the data on  (a) spot and  (b) future wholesale gas prices collected during 2008.

Mike O'Brien: The UK System Average Price is freely available on National Grid's webpage. Forward wholesale price data for the UK and other European gas hubs, which are sourced from proprietary information providers, cannot be published under the terms of the licence agreements.
	Data for US Henry Hub gas prices is available on a number of websites, including:
	http://www.barchart.com/
	DECC also produces assumptions for future trends in fossil fuel wholesale prices (including gas) up to 2030 which are used for modelling and other analytical work. This information is available on the following website:
	http://www.berr.gov.uk/files/file46071.pdf

Natural Gas: Prices

Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change pursuant to the Answer to the hon. Member for Romford of 23 February 2009,  Official Report, column 305W, on natural gas: prices, how many staff his Department employs to gather data on  (a) spot and  (b) future wholesale gas prices.

Mike O'Brien: One official is directly responsible, among other things, for collecting and compiling data on spot and forward UK, European and US gas prices.
	A team of four DECC energy market economists is also responsible, among other things, for the production of the Department's assumptions for future trends in fossil fuel wholesale prices (including gas), in consultation with other DECC colleagues.

Sellafield: Security

Dai Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change with reference to the Prime Minister's speech on nuclear energy on 17 March 2009, how the 70 million spent on security at Sellafield break down between budget headings since 2003; and what materials will be stored in the proposed storage facility.

Mike O'Brien: Following the events of 9/11 a comprehensive review was carried out on the security and emergency arrangements at the Sellafield site. The outcome of the review was a programme of enhancements, which included projects on: Risk Reduction; for enhanced physical security arrangements for the more sensitive facilities, Risk Mitigation; for enhanced contingency planning, which included the provision of aircraft style Fire Tenders and supporting equipment, and Risk Removal; for the consolidation of material, which entailed the transfer of nuclear material to more robust modern stores.
	The approximate breakdown of the costs associated with these projects is as follows:
	The Risk Reduction projects account for 40 per cent. of the costs;
	The Risk Mitigation projects account for 20 per cent.; and
	The Risk Removal projects account for 40 per cent.
	The storage facility mentioned is the Sellafield Product Residue Store which will be used for the safe and secure storage of plutonium bearing materials and residues.

Departmental Internet

Mark Hoban: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform pursuant to the answer of 12 February 2009,  Official Report, columns 2288-9W, how many hits each of the websites maintained by his Department received in each of the last 12-months.

Patrick McFadden: In the period March 2008February 2009 page views for the core BERR website:
	(www.berr.gov.uk)
	were:
	
		
			  Date  Page views 
			 March 2008 2,385,231 
			 April 2008 2,443,138 
			 May 2008 2,480,333 
			 June 2008 2,694,709 
			 July 2008 2,840,968 
			 August 2008 2,372,979 
			 September 2008 2,932,840 
			 October 2008 3,648,423 
			 November 2008 3,452,227 
			 December 2008 2,584,510 
			 January 2009 3,770,379 
			 February 2009 3,238,879 
		
	
	Other websites operated by the Department are not centrally managed. Information on visitor numbers for these sites is not centrally held and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Members: Correspondence

James Arbuthnot: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform when he plans to reply to the right hon. Member for North East Hampshire's letter of 26 November 2007 to the Lord Chancellor, transferred to his Department in December 2007, on his constituent, Miss Mollye Huddleston.

Patrick McFadden: holding answer 12 March 2009
	I responded to the right hon. Member on 20 March.

Performing Arts

John Mason: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform pursuant to the answer of 25 March 2009,  Official Report, column 528W, on performing arts, what expenditure his Department and its predecessor incurred in engaging  (a) actors,  (b) musicians and  (c) other performers in each of the last five years, broken down by (i) event and (ii) initiative.

Patrick McFadden: This information is not held centrally or readily disaggregated from contracted expenditure with suppliers. It could be supplied only at disproportionate cost.

Postal Services

Mark Hoban: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what meetings  (a) the Secretary of State and  (b) Ministers in his Department have had with (i) TNT, (ii) DHL, (iii) UPS, (iv) FedEx and (v) the Communication Workers' Union since 3 October 2008.

Patrick McFadden: The Secretary of State has met the CWU on:
	22 October 2008
	19 December 2008
	13 January 2009
	9 February 2009
	and TNT on 9 December 2008 and 30 January 2009.
	I met TNT on 18 March 2009 and the CWU on 22 October 2008, 2 February 2009 and 23 February 2009.
	Shriti Vadera met TNT on 17 March.

Science and Innovation: Expenditure

Adam Afriyie: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform pursuant to the answer of 2 March 2009,  Official Report, column 1342W, on business: Government assistance, how much was spent by each regional development agency on science and innovation in each year since 1999.

Patrick McFadden: holding answer 20 March 2009
	The following table shows expenditure by each RDA on science and innovation since 2001-02. The RDAs retain records of the last seven years. To provide records before this period will incur disproportionate costs.
	The figures are based on the proportion of expenditure that was directly attributable to science or innovation. The increase in spending from 2001-02 to 2002-03 onwards was due to the introduction of the single programme budget, which enabled RDAs to have more flexibility around investment decisions.
	
		
			  RDAs expenditure on science and innovation 
			   million 
			  RDAs  2001-02  2002-03  2003-04  2004-05  2005-06  2006-07  2007-08 
			 AWM (1) 6.2 10.5 13 18.7 18.4 32.7 
			 EEDA 3.2 4.5 5.2 9.5 33.7 22 23.2 
			 EMDA 0.4 2 9.3 5.2 12.6 13.9 18 
			 LDA 4.2 14.4 22 38.2 43.7 46.8 59.2 
			 NWDA 2.5 33 40 63 88 85 91 
			 ONE 10.4 28.5 47.5 45.4 42 53.8 45.6 
			 SEEDA 1.6 5.1 5.5 8.1 18.8 25.9 26.3 
			 SWRDA * 4.1 26.3 20.1 13 16.5 24.4 
			 YF 4.2 44.4 22 38.2 43.7 46.8 59.2 
			 (1 )Due to a change in accounting methods, data are unavailable before 2002.

Small Businesses: Holiday Leave

Mark Oaten: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what estimate he has made of the cost to small businesses of the increase in holiday entitlement from 1 April 2009.

Patrick McFadden: holding answer 27 March 2009
	The Government worked very closely with small businesses and their representatives during the consultation process and in developing the final regulations. That is why the holiday entitlement was increased in two phases spread over 18 months, and the regulations provided other transitional arrangements, in order to help business make the necessary changes.
	An assessment of the likely effects and costs on business, including on small and medium enterprises, was contained in the final regulatory impact assessment published in June 2007, which can be found on the BERR website at:
	http://www.berr.gov.uk/consultations/page36462.html

Written Questions: Government Responses

Paul Holmes: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform when he plans to answer Question 248248, on loss of departmental property, tabled on 12 January 2009.

Patrick McFadden: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 26 March 2009,  Official Report, column reference 637W.

Written Questions: Government Responses

David Amess: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform when he plans to answer question  (a) 250233,  (b) 250231 and  (c) 250232 on the small firms loan guarantee scheme tabled on 19 January; what the reason for the time taken to reply to each is; and if he will make a statement.

Ian Pearson: holding answer 18 March 2009
	I replied to the hon. Member's questions on 17 March 2009,  Official Report, columns 1131-32W.

Written Questions: Government Responses

Justine Greening: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform when he plans to answer Question 252766, on Heathrow expansion, tabled on 26 January 2009.

Ian Pearson: I replied to the hon. Member's question on 27 March 2009,  Official Report, columns 737-38W.